Natural Gas Prices Rise Amid Weather Forecasts

Tuesday, March 18^th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $4.062, up $0.044 compared to Monday’s closing price of $4.018. With ongoing support from bullish weather forecasts and reduced production due to pipeline maintenance, prices edged gradually higher throughout the session. Marking the intraday high ($4.123) and the intraday low ($4.050) within minutes of each other, traders are also bracing for the first possible injection of the year come Thursday. April closed higher on Tuesday at $4.052.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report is due out Thursday at 10:30AM. The report is expected to show a 2 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended March 14. This compares to a 7 BCF injection this time last year and a five-year average withdrawal amount of 31 BCF.

As of 6:40AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.230; Natural Gas was up $0.080; Heating Oil was up $0.007; and Gasoline was down $0.004.

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